If the tribe is federally recognized then they are a country unto themselves and not an American community or state. That would be like asking Mexico or Canada to pay taxes to the IRS.

As for the relevance to me?I am Tsalagi and any issues relevant to indigenous peoples is in turn relevant to any and all NDNs.

Aren't American Indians allowed to vote in US elections? I heard that they were dual citizens. If they don't pay any taxes they should not have any participation in politics. Also, if they don't have to charge sales taxes on non Indian purchases on their land, they should have customs agents and border patrol like they have when you go from the US to Canada or Mexico.By the way, I know in our area of upstate NY, the Indians are trying to take back a lot of the land that supposedly belonged to them hundreds of years ago. We should not be responsible for what our ancestors did.

If the tribe is federally recognized then they are a country unto themselves and not an American community or state. That would be like asking Mexico or Canada to pay taxes to the IRS.

As for the relevance to me?I am Tsalagi and any issues relevant to indigenous peoples is in turn relevant to any and all NDNs.

Aren't American Indians allowed to vote in US elections? I heard that they were dual citizens. If they don't pay any taxes they should not have any participation in politics. Also, if they don't have to charge sales taxes on non Indian purchases on their land, they should have customs agents and border patrol like they have when you go from the US to Canada or Mexico.By the way, I know in our area of upstate NY, the Indians are trying to take back a lot of the land that supposedly belonged to them hundreds of years ago. We should not be responsible for what our ancestors did.

Yes NDNs were given citizenship as part of a larger bill that was most beneficial to the US. Most of the NDNs that I know do not consider themselves Americans regardless of if they are allowed to or not.

It is not a matter of you being responsible for what your ancestors did but rather the government should either uphold their agreement in various treaties or be declared in default and the agreement rescinded and all properties be returned to pre-treaty owners.

Maybe I can explain it in terms you are more familiar with.

Say you go to the car dealer and get a vehicle. You take it home with the promise to make the agreed payments for the agreed upon time period.

If you do not continue to make the payments for the specified time, you are in default and have to return the vehicle.

The reason, you can not just one day decide, ok I have paid long enough, despite the fact that I have agreed to payments for a longer time period is because if you had offered to only pay for this lesser time period the saler may have not thought the amount was sufficient for the value of the property he was providing in trade for the payments.

You don't pay off your car or your home etc etc etc....you have to give it back.

Oh but wait......we are just NDNs being honorable, truthful, fair and faithful to us does not matter.

If the tribe is federally recognized then they are a country unto themselves and not an American community or state. That would be like asking Mexico or Canada to pay taxes to the IRS.

As for the relevance to me?I am Tsalagi and any issues relevant to indigenous peoples is in turn relevant to any and all NDNs.

Aren't American Indians allowed to vote in US elections? I heard that they were dual citizens. If they don't pay any taxes they should not have any participation in politics. Also, if they don't have to charge sales taxes on non Indian purchases on their land, they should have customs agents and border patrol like they have when you go from the US to Canada or Mexico.

When did the criteria for voting become whether or not you pay taxes? I know plenty of 16 year olds with jobs who pay taxes. They don't get to vote.

why should the government uphold its agreements - i'm a vet - they didn't do it - i'm on social security - they didn't do it - why should they honor any agreement that is not in the best interest of the elite - if you think otherwise then maybe you should trust the airlines too - like the guy said to baggage check-in - send this bag to boston - this bag to miami and this bag to london - the clerk replied " we can't do that." - why not came the reply - you did it last time - happy holidays and merry chirismas

Just a thought.......the US owes debts to many foreign Nations, one of the biggest is China. What kind of collateral do you think backs these debts?Land.If the US continues to default on their debts to foreign countries, one day you will either become a citizen of a different country or you will be involved in the next world war.

Take a minute and try on the title of "American Chinese" and see how you like it now.

Per-capita, the Indigenous of this country continue to have a higher rate of volunteering in the military.

Remember while studying this chart, that only enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe are allowed to claim that they are Indian(kill us off on paper)so if you take the category of two or more races, and add all the people who are Indian but are required by law to say they are white or some other race(never saw any other race legally barred from claiming their Ancestry, killing us off on paper again) and combine these with the federally recognized group the already disproportionally high per-capita percentage would be much greater.

well i belive it..the usa does it again..always messin up..makin promise n not keepin..dem n 4 every1 dat thinks it gonna change becuz we have a black president ..well im sry its not..as humans we mean well..but deep down we r all selfish..

anyone that does not like the usa can leave any time - no one is making them stay - just because my grandparents came from a different country does not mean that i have to stay in the usa - i've been to 38 countries - every state in the usa - worked in 10 different states and lived in 6 more - i'll take florida over any state and the usa over any country - the last time i was reentering the usa - the custom's person asked what i thought about being back in the usa - told them 'it's great, americans are confident while all the others i had visited were arrogant and down right mean to americans" - but now it looks like the arrogance has landed on the usa shores and everyone wants something for nothing - not willing to work - only wants money from the obama stash - remember you get what you deserve - if you want health, peace and happiness you get it if that is what you sow - most get hate, fear and death because they can not forgive themselves - forgive yourself first - then you can forgive others - and a Happy New Year to all - by the way the indians were not the first people here in the land we call usa - the indians are also transplants from other areas of the world

A Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux Warrior named Harold J. One Feather was shot at during the occupation camp at Slim Buttes. The occupation is protesting against radioactive runoff in native lands, which has and is devastating the community and neighboring communities.

Uranium mining has devastated many communities from Standing Rock, to other Cheyenne River Lakota communities. Runoff from the uranium mining has seeped and is seeping into the soil, encroaching on these people, causing many premature deaths, and reproductive problems with the women.

Mission of the Grand River Environmental Equality Network Occupation Camp:Gonna Stay until the Dogs Catch Their Own Tail

1. To demand the comprehensive and total clean up of abandoned uranium mines with the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills, and not just one at a time as the US Forest Service is stating it is doing.

2. To consider the negative health effects of low-dose ionizing radiation exposure through surface water, ground water and air transport; especially as this has been occurring to my community Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD). We feel that the US Forest Service's negligence of considering the Rock Creek communities concern that the uranium mines are causing extreme health crises within the community is tantamount to genocide and racism.

3. To revise the US Forest Service Sioux Oil and Gas Leasing Final Environmental Impact Statement to either start an Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement or start the EIS process anew to include tribal communities' extreme health concerns. This is our main point that the US Forest Service although hearing testimony from Rock Creek community members about their increasing rates of cancer, birth problems, and diabetes, they didn't include this in the FEIS and replied that the commenting period is over. They were told numerous times about what the sickness and deaths happening downstream, yet they purposefully ignore our concerns. This too is genocide and racism!

4. We demand that all current leases involving uranium, oil, gas as well as other mineral resources be outlawed in the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills and those existing outstanding leases be allowed to expire without renewal of these leases.

5. We demand that the name of the Custer National Forest be changed to Crazy Horse National Forest; this is upon the advice of the story told to LaDonna Brave Bull-Allard by Johnson Holy Rock and Elaine Quiver: that the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills was one of Crazy Horse's favorite places and is part of the Powder River basin that as a condition of his surrender would be his permanent reservation. For this he was murdered at Fort Robinson.

6. We demand that the Sioux Ranger District be renamed Paha Zizipila as this is its true Lakota name.

FORT THOMPSON, S.D. – On Dec. 15, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Chairman Brandon Sazue got a visit from eight horseback riders on a pilgrimage to memorialize 38 Dakota men who died in the nation’s largest mass hanging, in December 1862 in Mankato, Minn.

“The group took a detour from the main ride to fill a pipe here that will be smoked and prayed over when they get to Mankato.”

The 35-year-old chairman was camped on 7,100 acres of wind-swept, snowy land owned by Crow Creek Tribal Farms. The IRS recently seized the tract and on Dec. 3 auctioned it off for $2 million less than its $4.6 million value to pay a purported tax bill for the tribe, a separate legal entity.

The riders found Sazue holding his own in sub-zero temperatures. The chairman took up residence on the expanse shortly after the auction, intending to fast and pray for its repatriation until the crisis is resolved. “I’m not going anywhere. This land never was and never will be for sale. Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow. As chairman, I inherited the tax problem and tried to work with the IRS. They claim they ‘consulted’ with us, but all they did was tell us ‘here’s how it’s going to go.’”

The IRS action appears to fly in the face of legal precedents as far back as a 1790 law prohibiting the transfer of Indian land without a treaty, according to a legal memorandum drawn up by the tribe’s attorneys, Mario Gonzalez, Oglala Lakota and Terry L. Pechota, Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The document was filed Dec. 2 in U.S. District Court in an effort to stop the sale. That request was denied; however, a trial will take place in March, during which the tribe will attempt to regain the site.

“It’s the Black Hills gold rush all over again,” said historian Waziyatawin, Ph.D., Wahpetowan Dakota from Upper Sioux and a University of Victoria research scholar. “Nowadays, the press is reporting on a green energy land rush and Department of the Interior efforts to free up millions of acres for wind and solar development. Open prairie land, such as that on Indian reservations in the Plains, is suitable for such enterprises. So the U.S. government is going after the poorest of the poor to find the resources it needs.”How to help

The tribe, which has an unemployment rate of about 80 percent and lives in one of the poorest counties in the nation, had been planning a wind farm for the area, said Sazue. “If we lose this land, we miss that opportunity. We have profound connections to this place as well. Our ancestors are buried here, and tribal members come to collect sage and other traditional medicines.”

When Waziyatawin visited the site with her family Dec. 12 for a pipe ceremony, she joined Crow Creek tribal members and visitors from Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the Yankton Sioux Reservation, and the Rosebud Sioux Reservation.

The tax problem appears to have arisen after Harold Condon, a BIA employee who became financial manager of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in the early 2000s, advised the community not to pay federal employment taxes. According to a document that Gay Kingman, Cheyenne River Sioux, executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, received from the BIA in early December, the agency claims Condon did “an excellent job.” Further, the BIA letter says, the tribe owed the taxes and Condon was “instrumental in working with the Internal Revenue Service to get the large bill paid.”

The tract, which makes up 20 percent of Crow Creek’s reservation, was originally sold off after the Allotment Act of 1889 moved it into the hands of individual Indian owners. Notably, this was done without the majority vote of the tribe required by law. “We all know the referendum never took place,” Pechota said.

The tribe repurchased the land in 1998, according to Gonzalez’s and Pechota’s legal memorandum. Crow Creek then attempted to put the acreage back into trust, said Sazue. “We started the process in 2000. It shouldn’t take a decade to accomplish this.”

Nedra Darling, Prairie Band Potawatomi and a BIA spokeswoman, refused to comment on any aspect of the situation, citing the ongoing litigation. Darling added that Hilary Tompkins, Navajo, solicitor of the Interior Department and one of the Obama administration’s high-profile Native appointees, would also not comment.

The crisis occurs against a background of economic devastation created by the building of a series of giant dams along the Missouri River in the mid-20th century. The dams flooded valuable riverside agricultural areas on Sioux reservations throughout the Dakotas. Starvation ensued in many areas. In return for giving up the richly diverse bottomland, Crow Creek was promised free electrical power, which it never received. It did get $27.5 million that has been put into trust. However, the tribe can only touch the interest, not the principal, said Sazue. “I call that living off scraps. Why couldn’t we use that money to pay the IRS?”

The tribe’s difficulties have been exacerbated by the IRS siphoning off earnings from Crow Creek’s small casino and motel, making it difficult for the tribe to meet payroll and provide public services, as well as to pay the tax bill in an orderly fashion, Sazue said. The problem has also arisen at the worst time of year, according to the chairman. Despite frigid temperatures, the local electric company has been disconnecting the only power source for many Crow Creek families, claiming non-payment of bills. This forces the tribe to shelter members at its Fort Thompson motel, thus forgoing income it might receive by renting the rooms.

This is an annual occurrence, according to the humanitarian organization Can-Do, which filmed the electric company ripping out meters throughout Crow Creek during the winter of 2008, as babies cried and mothers tried to understand mysteriously escalating bills. To see the group’s video, visit www.can-do.org and look under “Project Progress Videos.” Can-Do’s investigation found “severe increases of illness, disease and mortality” on the reservation.

Sazue’s family was affected this year as well. “A month ago, my cousin called. She just had a baby, her husband is on oxygen, and her electricity got cut off. Companies are not supposed to do that in inclement weather, but they do here. Our people are suffering.”

“The Obama administration could help solve this crisis,” Waziyatawin said. “Obama is talking the talk when it comes to Indian country, but are he and his appointees going to walk the walk?”

The California Valley Miwok Tribe invites you to join us in our open protest against the local Bureau of Indian Affairs, Dept. of the Interior, Central California Agency

Our Tribe is a federally recognized Tribe that is listed in the Federal Register as an Indian Entity Recognized and Eligible to receive services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Central California Agency â€” BIA is illegally trying to re-organize a federally recognized Tribe that has never been terminated, that has a Custom and Tradition Tribal Constitution ratified by the Tribe in March 2000.

The local BIA has been illegally withholding our Mature Status 638

Contract since 2008 and by refusing to confirm to the California Gambling Control Commission who our duly elected Chairperson is, BIA has caused the CGCC to illegally withhold the Tribe's Revenue Sharing Trust Fund Monies (RSTF) since 2005.

Our civil rights have been violated. The local BIA is also violating federal law.

We (the "Tribe") have no money to fund our Tribal Programs, all employees have been layed off since Dec 2007.

The Tribe cannot pay its bills, and the only Tribal Property (1% acres of land at 10601 Escondido Pl., Stockton, CA 95212) has been foreclosed on.

The Sheriff's Department is scheduled to evict the Tribe and its members off the Tribal Property on January 15, 2010.

We are demanding that our funding be released immediately so we can save our Tribal Property and not be homeless. We are demanding fair treatment by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We are demanding that an investigation into the inappropriate actions and treatment of our Tribe, by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Dept of the Interior - BIA mission is to "protect and honor its trust responsibilities to American Indians, Alaskan Natives and Affiliated Island Communities" , so why have they failed so miserably with protecting the California Valley Miwok Tribe?

On Dec. 4 an action was taken against Crow Creek tribal land near my district that shook the absolute foundations of Indian law all the way back to the 1800s. Yet, few people were in the small room in Highmore, S.D. to see this monumental action and few other tribes even know it has taken place. Any tribe with land should shutter with the magnitude of what this precedent could mean for themselves or their individual tribal members.

The Internal Revenue Service collected against 7,100 acres – 11 square miles – of Indian owned land in Hyde County, S.D. This particular parcel was part of the original Crow Creek treaty boundaries, but the treaty was subsequently broken and this land was sold to LeMaster. Interestingly enough, our tribe was able to use settlement money from another federal land taking to purchase this land back in 1998.

My issue is not with the IRS action itself but rather with the system that our tribe and all other tribes find themselves under. The actions of a handful of people are being used to take the property of 3,000 tribal members. Where else in America is that even a possibility?

The land tenure system in place asks us as tribes to place land in “trust” with the federal government. We are told that the government will look after our best interests and utilize the land to its utmost capabilities. But, as tribes, we know this is not true. Just two weeks ago we saw this same guardian have to dispense $3.4 billion to tribes because that trust was broken, not only broken but we as tribes had to wait 13 years for a resolution.

We are also told that once in the system the government will look at interceders with a jaundice eye and the land will not be able to be condemned or taken. But just a quick drive around the Crow Creek Reservation you can see huge transmission lines and the Big Bend Dam which have taken incredible amounts of land that seem to prove this principle otherwise. Where was the federal government when their other agencies stepped within our borders to take this land?

The federal agencies involved in this current action will tell you that the LeMaster land was never brought under this “trust responsibility” and the land remained as “tribal fee.” When should the government step away from the original obligation to uphold the treaty boundaries? Their great idea of land policy has left us with reservation lands that are labyrinths of complicated property interests, jurisdictional issues and taxation problems. Their policy has created checker-boarded islands that as tribal members we merely have to tolerate because Dawes’ idea just did not work out.

The federal government’s “trust” has definite limits and if those limits are exceeded they will allow other pieces of government to take action within the reservation boundaries. And, every tribe that has a piece of land should take notice or they too could have a new 11 square mile hole to drive past within their boundaries.